1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ultrasonic testing of elongate objects and specifically relates to ultrasonic testing of various elongate objects.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Testing of elongate objects, such as pipes and rods, is often necessary in order to determine whether the objects have defects, damage, flaws or the like and especially those located below a surface of the object. Moreover, because such elongate objects are often very long and/or very numerous, it is useful to conduct inspection of the objects in a continuous manner that can be accomplished during relative movement of each respective elongate object relative to an inspection arrangement.
Nondestructive ultrasonic testing of elongate objects is a known technique. Within one known example, an ultrasonic inspection arrangement permits inspection of sequential portions of an elongate object as the object moves relatively through surrounding ultrasonic sensor arrays of the ultrasonic inspection arrangement. Further within the known example, a fluid jacket environment is utilized to surround the respective portion of the elongate object with a coupling fluid (e.g., water) to couple the ultrasonic sensor arrays to the elongate object for efficient conduction of ultrasonic pulses. Such a type of inspecting arrangement can be referred to as a rotating water or “ROWA” inspecting arrangement. Sealing members at the leading and trailing edges of the fluid jacket environment bound the fluid jacket environment and yet permit passage of the elongate object due to the presence of circular apertures through the sealing members. As the elongate object is moved through the inspection arrangement and the fluid jacket environment thereof, the portions of the elongate object are sequential inspected via the ultrasonic sensor arrays. In general, such ultrasonic testing of the elongate objects with circular cross sections, such as hollow, circular cross-sectional pipes, has proven to be quite good and beneficial.
It should be appreciated that elongate objects of various circular diameters can be inspected via use of a single inspection arrangement. Some modification may be necessary to the inspection arrangement to accommodate the differing circular diameters. For example, the sealing members at the leading and trailing edges of the water jacket may need to be adjusted or interchanged to provide a different circular aperture size. It should be appreciated for larger diameter elongate objects, the aperture size of the seals should correspondingly be larger. As such, it is beneficial to have a sensing arrangement that can regularly accept variation of the elongate objects being processed for sensing.
It has been contemplated that there might be benefit to inspect other types (i.e., non-circular cross-section) elongate objects using a similar type of sensing arrangement. For example, some elongate objects are not circular in cross-section but contain one or more flat faces. Within a specific example, some elongate objects may have four flat surfaces and have a square cross sectional area. However, the sensor arrays within the known sensory arrangement are arranged/directed such that the sensor arrays are designed to best operate upon circular cross-sectional elongate objects. As such, the known sensory arrangement may not be able to provide optimal sensing of such non-circular cross-sectional elongate objects. As such, there is a need to provide a sensing arrangement that can readily provide inspection of both circular and non-circular cross sectional elongate objects.